Monday, January 14, 2013

Storm clouds are appearing on the horizon. When your friends
start worrying about the way you are conducting your presidency, it’s time to take
notice.

This morning the Huffington Post sounded a somber note about
the Obama presidency.

HuffPost explained that Obama’s legacy depends on his
ability to produce economic growth and prosperity.

His first term has certainly not been a boon for the
American middle class, and sooner or later people are going to start holding
him accountable.

The HuffPost reports on the results of Obama’s first term:

The
arithmetic is stark. Median household income is lower than when Obama took
office, according to Census Bureau data -- lower even than when President Bill
Clinton left office in 2001. The middle 60 percent of households -- those
earning between $20,262 and $101,582 -- captured a smaller share of aggregate
income in 2011 than they did in 2009, while the top fifth, which already made
more than the other groups combined, captured more. Surveys of public opinion reveal a middle class that
is smaller, poorer and less optimistic than ever. And although the unemployment
rate fitfully has fallen below 8 percent for the first time since Obama's 2009
inauguration, most new jobs are too low-paying to sustain middle-class
families.

There
is more to the plight of the American middle class than numbers can express --
and a greater threat to the country than economists can quantify.

Democracy,
after all, can't thrive without a broad, strong, educated core of citizens. But
today they find themselves buffeted by the remorseless dictates of global
capital, the need for evermore education and training and the burdens of higher
taxes to pay for social programs they need, such as health care.

Not a very good track record.

For the moment Obama seems to have decided that if a bad
economic record did not hurt him in the election, then he should just do what
he is good at: playing politics by demagoguing issues.

It’s reasonable to say that Obama, given his mindset, does
not know how to help the economy to recover.

Whatever the reason, Obama has decided that his political
fortunes still lie in his ability to beat up on Republicans.

His two highest legislative priorities for his second term are
now gun control and immigration. Presumably, he believes that they play to his
political advantage. When it comes to immigration, he is surely right.

In an article that is more than sympathetic to the
president, The HuffPost demurs:

The
administration has said that its top two priorities at the outset of its second term
are immigration reform and gun control. Despite an ongoing jobs crisis,
creating quality jobs seems to have fallen a few slots on the president's to-do
list.

Overjoyed with an election victory that he probably did not expect to have, President Obama seems to have taken his eye off the ball.

Some will say that Obama is so self-absorbed that he never had his eye on the ball. If pressed, I would concur.

For all of the political gamesmanship, at some point reality
is going to bite the Obama presidency. If reality is a stagnant economy and a
large class of people that has been consigned to permanent unemployment, then
political gamesmanship might not do the trick.

5 comments:

It is odd how many people are just now learning that Obama is ruining the economy.Some of the smartest people I know have still not figured this out. They have been captivated by the liberal ideas of being "nice" and "caring". They don't know understand that the road to hell is being paved with their intentions.

Legacy: Many think that Obama's desired legacy is a diminished America. It does seem to be what he is aiming for. Economic growth and prosperity have never been in the mix (PuffHo is mad/insane). "Democracy, after all, can't thrive without a broad, strong, educated core of citizens." Which, according to what I read, we are not getting from our colleges. "Despite an ongoing jobs crisis, creating quality jobs seems to have fallen a few slots on the president's to-do list." Believing what Obama says...

"The president is the commander in chief of the powerful U.S. military, but he can’t exactly bark orders at the nation’s sprawling free-market economy, let alone the global forces that interact with it."http://classroom.wsj.com/cre/2012/09/28/can-a-president-fix-the-economy/

"The economy is big, and the president is just one man. And if you ask your neighbors, you’ll find that very few people are standing around, just waiting for the president to tell them to get moving and generate some prosperity"http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/25/megan-mcardle-presidents-can-t-fix-the-economy.html